Growing up we had a basic TV, 12 channels if we were lucky and you had to get up to turn the dial. These days it is several hundred channels and you never leave the couch. TV Shows were things like Hawaii 5-0, Dallas, Marcus Welby, Trapper John MD, Dukes of Hazard, the Brady Bunch, The Love Boat, Little House on the Prairie, CHiPs, The Cosby Show, Different Strokes to name a few. These days medical & cop shows are still there but they have turned into more of a soap opera it is major drama with usually kissing, harsh words and even sex involved. The TV show spins offs. I mean look at CSI has gone from 1 to 3; NCIS is now 2; Law & Order has gone on to I don’t know how many. Then there is the Reality shows like Survivor, Amazing Race, Bachelor, American Idol. Plus on cable you have the kids shows like Suite Life on Deck, iCarly, Spongebob, and others.
Sitting here watching the TV with the kids, I have realized that there isn’t really many shows for families to watch together like in the past. The Cosby Show was a good one, yes not many families are as wealthy as they were or lived in a house that looked small but apparently went on forever. They had good times and bad times, family problems that often could be solved by the end of the night but not always and other things as well. But you could sit all ages and laugh together and then talk about it. Some of the lines that Bill Cosby used I have to admit I used myself at one time or another. These days the shows are not family oriented at all, especially the comedies they are more adult core. There is only two shows that we can watch together, Amazing Race and Survivor. The cop shows are not at all like CHiPs or Hawaii 5-0 (although they are apparently bringing back the last one to TV this season who knows how it will go). Even some kid shows are not appropriate for kids of certain ages. There is a gap for shows that young girls between the ages of 7 and 12 for example it goes from things like Dora the Explorer and Wiggles to Hannah Montana but where is a decent show for them? There isn’t one at all that I could find at all. I don’t mind Hannah Montana but that is more focus on teenagers not their age. Even Sonny with a Chance, iCarly are not the best shows for girls but the only option sometimes. The cartoons aren’t the greatest either, we have gone beyond the Smurfs, Road Runner, Flintsones, Jetsons, Bugs Bunny… The Spongebob, Simpsons are not ones I want my kids watching what about you?
They have even taken some of those old shows one step farther and turned them into movies some were alright and others are well were total failures. I can think of one failure off the top of my head, Dukes of Hazard, I’m sorry but Daisy Duke was not a blonde and definitely needed a fat Boss Hogg not a skinny one. Then there was Mission Impossible, The Mod Squad, The Avengers, Flinstones, Scooby Doo, and the list can keep going on. Star Trek was a hit though because they kept the same characters from the movies and even the same actors/actresses in the original ones which made it seem better and added more ties into the series in the end. Sometimes they would add in some of the cast from the series to the movie which was an attempt to make it better but not always.
Wonder if they will in the end actually listen and go back to the ways of the past that they obviously liked otherwise they wouldn’t have so many movies out of the TV Shows they liked then, bringing back good family oriented TV Shows.
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